Obama wins North Carolina and Possibly the Democratic Nomination

Senator Obama won the North Carolina primary 56% to Senator Clinton’s 42%. This turned Indiana into even more of a must win for Senator Clinton. She did win. Barely. However, throughout the night there was an undercurrent which suggested that while Senator Clinton needed to win Indiana to stay in the race, there may be little real reason for her to. On MSNBC’s coverage of the primary everyone from Chris Matthews to Tim Russert said that Obama was likely the nominee. Sen. Clinton’s campaign also released an e-mail which sounded quite a bit like a concession speech and a prominent Clinton campaign advisor said that Senator Obama had “struck a good tone” and that Senator Clinton would try to strike a similar tone. Even the New York Times, which endorsed Senator Clinton has pointed out that her paths to the nomination are becoming even harder to see.

Senator Obama’s victory in North Carolina and the tight race in Indiana have undone the damage of Pennsylvania and completely neutralized her victory in the Keystone State. Hillary’s brief victory is also tainted by the Republican abuse of democracy known as “Operation Chaos” because 11% of the vote said they were Republican and Senator Clinton received 53% of that vote. The true effect is likely negligible in fact, but perceptually this and the long tight race will likely hurt the amount of enthusiasm inspired by her victory.

The Democratic Race May Be Decided Tonight…Again

Once again we’re supposedly standing on the threshold to a possible end to the Democratic primary. The common wisdom is that Senator Obama will have to win Indiana and North Carolina to finish off Senator Clinton’s campaign. But why? Senator Clinton has already lost in all likelihood. She needs to win such a large percentage that it seems like she has little to no chance of being the nominee. And then there’s the fact that the Democratic super delegates could end this if they wanted to, but many sit by on the sidelines while the Democratic candidates bloody themselves up. Now, I’m sure that both Democratic hopefuls can beat John “Doubletalk Express” McCain, but the sooner the Democratic party starts to fight the Republican party in defense of the American people, the better.

I’m 99% sure this will continue until Puerto Rico though given that the media will spin the coverage to keep it going no matter which candidate is winning or losing because there’s very little that attracts as many eyeballs to their networks as the Democratic primary does. Obama and Clinton will also probably split it tonight with Clinton winning Indiana and Obama winning North Carolina.

What will be interesting is to see how many GOP voters attempt to sabotage democracy in the name of Rush.